I came to a realization recently that I still struggle to properly articulate but: online leftists who have extremely socialist progressive politics but still think its okay to partake in like doxxing and harassment and other toxic practices are eerily similar to conservative Christians who piously go to church every Sunday but still verbally abuse service workers and leave 50 cent tips
Its that same. I guess. Cognitive dissonance between beliefs and actual behavior. That idea that you are a good person because you believe the correct things which conveniently absolves you of having to be conscious of your own behavior and how you treat people. Its okay that you called your Olive Garden waitress a dumb bitch because she brought you bleu cheese instead of ranch with your salad because you can just pray your sins away to Jesus and still get into heaven. Its okay that you told someone who you didnt like on Tumblr to kill themselves because you have “trans rights are human rights” and ACAB in your bio. Its that same kind of Performance of being a Good Person TM while still deciding its okay to treat the people you consider to be “beneath you” like garbage.
Your beliefs are simply step one in determining your personal character, frankly one of the easier steps. The next and more important step is *how* you, personally, treat the people around you. And frankly, you could have the most progressive politics known to mankind but if you still act like a middle school bully at the most minor percieved infraction then you are not a good person. Full stop.
there’s so little taste in advertising that it was bound to happen sooner or later, but would you like to take one guess as to why the JP barbie account had to make a post disavowing the actions of the US barbie account
Now when is Japan going to disavow what Imperial Japan did in Nanking
now hear me out, but seeing as we’re not beholden to shielding anyone from criticism in applying criticism to others, we may be able to work towards believing both
“the actions of imperial japan were fucking horrific, evil, and should be acknowledged and disavowed by the government”
and also “no circumstances could have justified the united states of america indiscriminately murdering several hundred thousand civilians for what was ultimately a vanity project”
bombs don’t discriminate between good people and bad people, adults and children, or anything else at all. nuclear bombs, less so
when two musicians sing into the same microphone and lean in very close to each other… like omg are you guys gonna kiss now to relieve the homoerotic tension?😳
THIS IS NOT ABOUT ONE DIRECTION I DON’T KNOW WHO THIS “HARRY” PERSON IS GO WATCH BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND CLARENCE CLEMONS KISS ON STAGE RIGHT NOW
op is the only valid person i’ve ever met. everyone else needs to come to the light
Okay, but this is really important: Bruce Springsteen occupied this really weird place in music history. His songs were all from this pessimistic, nihilistic view of an America that had let him down:
Just like the anti-Vietnam War protest songs that we associate with the 1960s, or the early nihilism that spawned punk music in the 1970s. But he didn’t *sound* like a punk anarchist; he sounded like a country rock singer. When he released Born in the U.S.A. people completely misinterpreted (or possibly ignored) the lyrics in favor of the tone of the music.
Politicians used his music to promote their ‘Murica Yes! brand, and he had to literally explain that that was not what he was about. He’s over here asking when we’re going to have jobs and heathcare, not stanning the politicians who weren’t helping the people.
It was also kind of a big deal that he had an integrated band, because even as late as the 1980s music was still kind of segregated and MTV was straight up racist. They refused to play and promote black artists and then claimed that were no black artists in the first place. Michael Jackson’s record company had to threaten a boycott of their white artists to get MTV to play his Thriller video.
Plus, the first black/white interracial kiss on TV was in 1968 (OG Star Trek). Also it took us until the 70s to get sympathetic gay characters on screen, and the 90s to get gay characters to kiss onscreen. And all of those firsts were met with outrage.
So keep that in mind when you see Bruce Springsteen not just playing with an interracial band, but engaging in an interracial, gay kiss on stage repeatedly.
Passages from American Popular Music by Larry Starr and Christopher Waterman
I used to think that Bruce and Clarence kissing onstage was exuberance, showmanship, and telling racist homophobes to fuck off. Like, they picked up a certain kind of audience and went “Racist homophobes? Not in our house!” And started the kissing then but then I actually looked it up and
It was a story where… we remade the city. We remade the city, shaping it into the kind of place where our friendship and our love for one another wouldn’t have been such an exceptional thing. - Bruce Springsteen
It wasn’t about showmanship or rejecting bigots or anything it was just. Damn right that was one of the loves of his life and damn right he was going to kiss him onstage
It gets me a little that Bruce has had a divorce, that he’s been married twice, but he loved Clarence for the rest of Clarence’s life and will presumably love him the rest of his own
Clemons said in one interview. “Bruce and I looked at each other and didn’t say anything, we just knew. We knew we were the missing links in each other’s lives. He was what I’d been searching for.” In another version of the story, Clemons says “He looked at me, and I looked at him, and we fell in love.”
I’m having some emotions about it!
“He was elemental in my life,“ Springsteen adds, “and losing him was like losing the rain.”
Not just! I love you pure and deep and true but! I am going to love you like that in front of the whole damn world!
We have fewer narratives about taking risks and making statements for platonic love rather than romantic and supposedly it would be easier to downplay this onstage than romance and! They refused! They fucking refused! In front of hundreds of thousands of people, over the course of years! In the spotlight, in word and deed, I love you!
God I’m not okay about it
Now I’m mad that this is not among any of the things I was ever told about this artist.
I knew about this in general (& via all those fabulous photos), but this just adds even more beautiful context <3
Just to add to the pile: this was the cover of Springsteen’s break-through album Born to Run, in 1975:
I mean, will you LOOK at this:
This was the pic chosen for the album cover from an extensive photoshoot, too. A few others:
There’s a lot more online if you search. They’re all pretty amazing. But the photographer is right, the one chosen for the album cover just pops.
Springsteen said after Clemon’s death:
“Clarence lived a wonderful life. He carried within him a love of people that made them love him. He created a wondrous and extended family. He loved the saxophone, loved our fans, and gave everything he had every night he stepped on stage. His loss is immeasurable, and we are honored and thankful to have known him and had the opportunity to stand beside him for nearly forty years. He was my great friend, my partner, and with Clarence at my side my band and I were able to tell a story far deeper than those simply contained in our music. His life, his memory, and his love will live on in that story and in our band.”
The Very Hungry Rust Monster is a mini-comic I made a few years back. I’ve seen it floating around Tumblr without attribution recently, so I’ve uploaded a higher-resolution version, properly credited.
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